Weekly Update - Mayhem Classic Review

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello everyone, welcome back to the Europe is coming podcast. It is the 20th of April. We've had our first semi-final and I'm back with John. How are you, John?

SPEAKER_00 0:09

I'm good. Just back from some travels. I was just in Germany this weekend. And as you say, it's like CrossFit season feels like it's kicked off.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

It does. It feels like all sorts of stuff's happening now. I kind of had lots of info hitting my feed now, and you're starting to see the kind of buzz come back to the back to the space. With that though, I've been listening to a lot of podcasts about semi-finals, and I'm glad that it's not just us, but no one seems to be able to easily communicate what the season structure actually is and what the process is.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Yeah, I I think I think mayhem was you know it was very positive to see. But then again, like it's got no relevance to then the other semi-finals in the sense of like there are only 40 athletes competing, three of them go through, there were no team or masters. So it's like this it's like a whole bunch of independent competitions and structures, and then all of a sudden somehow everyone then gets through to the the games in all these different ways.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Yeah, exactly. And we've mentioned mayhem already, but did you get a chance to I know you were traveling, did you get a chance to watch much of it while you were while you were out and about?

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Yeah, we um managed to like I was travelling with with Carmen, so managed to watch I think I watched pretty much all of the events. I think it was just on Saturday night I didn't watch the final one live because it was so late. But apart from that, I managed to watch everything.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Nice, and what were your overall thoughts of uh of the comp?

SPEAKER_00 1:43

I think it was cool, you know, like high-level athletes competing for a game spot. It kind of felt a bit more OG, they're all in a gym. It was cool to have throning commentating, Austin Maliolo, Richard, Rory McKern, you know, it was like uh had that OG uh kind of vibe, and it didn't feel too too hyped up, and I think that was kind of appreciated. And the broadcast, you know, I think it they just had one set camera angle, if I don't remember wrong, and it it was fine. You could see what was happening on the floor. It didn't need to be this kind of like big fancy broadcast. You got like, you know, you saw all the lanes, saw what was going on, saw who was in the lead, and it's kind of enough.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Yeah, I had a couple of thoughts kind of watching it. I managed to watch a fair bit of it. Excuse me, I've got a proper frog frog in my throat. Sorry, everyone. Let me clear that. Right. So my first thing was just how big is that gym to be able to fit a full-on CrossFit competition in there with a full-on crossfit competition rig? I was just like, that gym is enormous. And then the second thing was the broadcast, actually. Like you say, I think they might have had like maybe a secondary cutaway camera, but it wasn't, but they also had the live scoring on there as well, so they kind of had updating scoring. It was great to hear Rich and Austin on the on the broadcast. I thought it was really entertaining. I mean, they maybe said some stuff that you wouldn't normally hear on like traditional broadcasts, but it was fun. And then the even the 5k run, which was the first event, I thought the coverage of that, even though it was kind of like we'll record it and then send it out afterwards. I thought that was really well done, and you kind of saw a lot of what was going on. My only sort of critique of that was not having the live scoring somewhere on that, but I think it's probably because it was a really quick turnaround, it was very hard to do. But like at one point when they were doing the burpees over the log, I'm like, How many burpees is this? Who's ahead? Like, completely lost what was going on at that point. But yeah, I thought it was really I thought it was fun, and it was it kind of gave me the old CrossFit feels a little bit from from watching it. It was kind of it I enjoyed it. I thought it was a good comp. Excuse me.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Yeah, I think I you know, I think I imagine it'll probably resonate in that way, like the OGs appreciated it, seeing like that OG feel. Yeah, I think it was a good one to kick off kick off the season.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Yeah, absolutely. So I thought we'd have a little look at the at the leaderboard first off. And actually, maybe we should have a quick look at some of the workouts and get your thoughts on some of the workouts first and then go to the leaderboard. So event one, I already kind of said it was a it was a 5k, which they said was actually probably slightly longer than 5k. It was kind of up the hills around where where Froning lives and Froning Senior live, and you then had kind of this slight deviation to a field where they had these wooden kind of logs set up and there was some burpee over over the logs, which was which was quite cool. We what were your initial thoughts on the on the slightly over five chucked in?

SPEAKER_00 4:47

So we uh I ironically, like I think like an hour before that everyone knew it was going to be this like log burpees, uh workout release from Madrid, which has like burpees over the log. So it was this weird coincidence where uh in the history of CrossFit it's maybe come up like a couple of times this burpee over the log. It was once at the the games they did at the ranch, which is a bit where we you know we were getting some inspiration and got some inspiration for that. Um, so it's pretty funny to see like they had 50, we have 75 in the first workout. But I'm I'm a fan of starting a competition in this way, like a bit of a longer workout, a group mass start. So it's like the fields not being divided already, you just kind of throw everyone in on the same start line, three, two, one, go, and it sets the pace of the competition. And as we've had many conversations about, I think that going longer is an important skill in CrossFit. So I think the fact that it was a little bit longer than 5k was a good thing. Like you don't stay, you know. I think what they were taking like 30, it's over 30 minutes or so. But and I I think that starting to push towards that, even 40 minutes an hour, I think is a really important fitness skill that we don't see get tested as much in CrossFit. So I think it's good to see longer events out there.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Yeah, and the times you mentioned that like there were some really fast times considering they had a lot of burpees over that log to do in the middle. I was, you know, Haley Adams won that won the for the the women, and I forget who met won it on the guy side, but it was really impressive times with some quick, quick athletes.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Yeah, and the elevation as well. It looked steep. I mean, I don't know the exact elevation, but but it definitely looked like they were running uphill.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Yeah, yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Was it Emily Emily Haley Adams Emily Rolfe came second? Yeah, I need to double check on the on the guys as well.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Yeah, I can't uh sorry guys, I can't remember exactly the placement.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Um this this is like as a slight sidetrack, actually. We have I had this discussion uh with some brands recently. This is the fascinating thing about CrossFit is it's like a completely equal sport to watch both males and females. And this is like a perfect example where you know we know exactly on the female side, but don't have a clue of the guy's side. And I think it's actually very rare that you get sports outside of training where there's may there's not a difference between males and females in terms of excitement of following along, it's just it often happens to be who's in the field maybe creates more excitement than anything else, and this is a perfect example.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Definitely, and uh just checking, Jeffrey Adler came first on the run, Austin Hatfield came second, and I do remember it now. They had a bit of a it was a bit of tussling between them, and it kind of started started on that first workout. But I I actually just just thinking about that, I felt, and I again could be just me, and I'd get like to get your thoughts on this. I felt like the women's field was deeper for this competition than the men's. Like there were the there were some top guys in there, the top heat, but I felt like the women's field had probably more memorable or notable names in it than than possibly the guys. But again, that could just be me watching.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah, you're right. I I think that I I agree with you, and I I think that there's been something the seasons have just been a bit strange uh since after 24, where you've had like division of some athletes not competing, some competing. I think it's uh affected maybe the way that we've seen some of these top athletes. Like it's like where does Laura fit into this female field with some of the guys who chose not to do the game season for a pyrident? And maybe that's one of the reasons why you've not been able to follow the leaderboard and who's doing well as as easily. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

So coming on to event two, which um was pretty gnarly to be honest. It it on paper it kind of looks simple, but it's 15, 12, 9, clean and jerks, it's an eight-minute time cap, and the weight are in pounds here, but it's it was 185 and 125, which I always mess these conversions up, but it looked like around 60 for the ladies and slightly around kind of like 80 odd for the guys. Might be slightly wrong on there. Please keep me honest, John. But the little kicker for this workout, if if you hadn't seen it already, was that the clean jerks, each set had to be unbroken. So you couldn't, once you picked up the bar for the 15, you could not drop it. You could pause a finished position, so either at your hang or at your shoulders, but you could not drop the bar once you had started, they had to be unbroken, which made the round of nine um really interesting. There was people dropping the bar all over, people's forearms completely going, like it was there was pre-carnage on that on that button nine the bar of nine reps, and yeah, you saw a lot of mix-up at the finish line. What did you think of this workout?

SPEAKER_00 9:54

I I think it was fun. Um, in regards to your conversion question, 83.9 and 56.6, which you know, after all these years of having to convert these weights into to pounds, I am extremely I think now worried about my ability to do the simple math. I mean, the amount of times that I've heard 185 and still have to do the calculation in my head is there.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

But I'm glad it's not just me then. I was in the ballpark at least. I was in the ballpark.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

Yeah, it's fun. Like I think like when the athletes have to do a certain rep scheme, it's like a fun way to play about with a competition. Or it creates a fun competition. Maybe it's like an in you know, in order to find the fittest, it's like if you just made the athletes go through that number of clean and jerks separately, you you probably had like a very different result, and that's why you know it was interesting to see. I mean, maybe it was super punishing for the athletes that finished like failed in the nine, for example, or even failed in the 12, because they were disproportionately hurt through that. Like let's take Gabby, for example. If that light, you know, obviously it was very famous, well not fame, but it got like uh went quite viral the last rep she had, like, it was an epic. Yeah, it's gonna be fairly infamous now, I think. Yeah, so it's a great save. And had she made that save or not influenced the time completely. But then, like, I know a lot of the athletes who then failed, they should they demonstrated the work capacity to get to that point, but just by failing on one rep, they were really, you know, they really got hurt on the leaderboard. And so it's like an interesting discussion of like, you know, they had they kind of demonstrated the fitness to get there, but were disproportionately punished. And so even some of the guys ended up doing like way more reps in the time, but finished a lot lower down on the leaderboard because they didn't hit it in that way. So I think I would phrase like this from like a competition watching standpoint, it was really exciting. Like from a testing of fitness standpoint, it's an interesting discussion because you know you the person's demonstrating the the workload, but they get kind of punished if they don't make it in those jumps. And some people athletes are better at going touch and go than singles.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Yeah. Is there an argument though that some people picked up the next bar where they failed maybe too soon? And because you did see some athletes really pacing like Rebecca Fuselow kind of sticks out in my mind where she was like really took her time on each of the bars, and I know that she was kind of mitigating because it's quite heavy for her, I imagine. But but she even beat again one of the athletes, I think it might have been Hattie Canyo, who was like looked like she was going to finish, you know, second or third in our heap, but unfortunately failed on that last bar and then ended up getting caught caught up because she had had a couple of attempts. So is there not something to maybe talk about like pacing in that and just knowing when to because you're probably going quicker because you've got someone next to you that you're racing, maybe you want to pick up the bar a bit early.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

A hundred percent. Like, and I think that's why it makes it more exciting competition because there's a bigger risk of failure. Like if you do singles, that you know, it's easier to kind of have the micro rest and and naturally adapt. But I think the the reason the reason it's made exciting is because of the high risk, you know. That's why it was an exciting workout, because you know, failing nine reps is almost like you know, like I felt like for Claudia, look, she had like a savage fail. Kind of the camera was a bit on and the bar like flung out of her hands. But in paper, it's a good workout for her. But because she failed in the 12, there's like no coming back, and then actually the rest of the weekend gets uh gets taken away with a placement that's that low down in this level of field.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Yeah, and uh what was it? I think we'll go through it, but I think there's only like six workouts across the weekend, so there's not like a lot of uh opportunities to kind of get claw more points back once you've kind of had a big big workout like that.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Yeah, there was there's an interesting, and the reason I bring up this example, I I think Sam Briggs in 2014 was you know, you're never gonna be able to say this, but maybe the fittest uh person on earth, like fittest female on earth. And there's some technical things in this, but uh CrossFit used to have a scoring system that was like very linear progress. So it's like you know, got 100 points, 99 points, but it went up like one point for winning, two points for second. And why that's important is because it really warded rewarded consistency over winning. Whereas nowadays, if you look at most of scoring systems, what they'll do is they will reward winning. Um, so taking a first, second, or third place, you usually end up with more points than you would if you kind of went flat across the board. And as an example of this, you'll end up with a higher placing at a competition if you take first and last than if you took two mid-pack workouts. And Sam Briggs in that year, there was this workout where you had to do handstand walk. And in order to get like the reps to start counting, you had you had like a little barrier, I think it was like five or ten meters. And then after the five or ten meters, like points would start to add up, and she went like just over the first 10-meter line, and she got I don't know, like one meter counted or something like that. And just because of this handstand walk workout, you know, she won a lot of the other workouts but couldn't didn't qualify for the games that year. I remember, and so it's like a weird should Sam Briggs have gone. I think it's an you know, I don't necessarily have the concrete answer, but I think it's a really interesting discussion of like should Sam Briggs still have been able to go to their games that year, because actually all of her other aspects of fitness were so so good. I mean, she was so in shape, but just because of a handstand walk, it took her out completely from that being a possibility of happening. And the reason I'm talking about that example is because now, if we look at this Gwen workout, because you fail the ninth rep of the last cleaner jerk, should that and and that that basically takes you out of the whole you've got no option to win then, basically, you know, the level of the girls where they are. Should that be the case? I I don't know. I'm we're more interested in the discussion around it because I think from the competition standpoint it's exciting, but from a test of fitness standpoint, is that like is that really a factor that you should should have in?

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Yeah, I think it's an interesting bait and debate, sorry, and one that we've kind of had within the CrossFit scene for a long time because some would argue, well, if you can't do a handstand walk and we're testing all 10 physical skills of preparedness and you want to be well-rounded, and that's what cross it's about, then no, you probably shouldn't be able to go. But then I completely agree. Like Sam at that point was just on fire and like just dominating what other all the other workouts there were somewhere where you were just like no one was even close to her. So it was especially as a Brit, I was obviously wanting her to go, but it's slightly biased in that regard. But yeah, it's a it is a tricky one to kind of pin pick pick out the bones of you know what what do we reward and and what do we punish and how and how severe is that? And because it's the sport of the unknown, I guess, in lots of ways, it's hard to quantify. But nonetheless, I enjoyed watching the workout, which was which was cool because agree. And some comp some comps that I haven't enjoyed watching some of the workouts and been a little bit bored, and I was like, Oh, this is fun. And also, I was like, again, a reminder of how strong the Monday CrossFit athlete is doing that weight unbroken. 15 after 15 of those, if I you know, I'd be I'd be done. I would don't know about the round of 12 and 9. I'd be like, good to get through the 15.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Yeah, but I've got no comments right now. I think I'd be happy just on uh 15 of the female weights.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

So yeah, I mean me too. I haven't done a clean jerk in a while, so I might be I might be punching well up on my weight by by saying that. So event event three, what did you make of event three?

SPEAKER_00 18:02

No, I know there's some controversy over like the the male and the female weights, the squats, but those good workouts. I think like exciting finishes and moving around. I think it was uh you know classic kind of crossfit squatting and the odd squatting and gymnastics.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Yeah, nice. And if you're audio only and you not on our video feed, because we've we're looking at this as we as we talk through it, but if you're not, I'll just read it out for you. 30 sandbag squats, 30 ring muscle ups for guys, 24 ring muscle ups for ladies, which are also being used as a tie break, 30, then another 30 sandbag squats, then 30 bar muscle ups, which again became another tie break break score, and then 30 sandbag squats at 150 and 125. One of the interesting things about the sandbag is that they overfilled them so they're a bit more like a D ball. So they were they didn't have that classic sandbag kind of like flop, if you like, where you can kind of get a bit better of a grip. So it looked like it was a bit harder. I mean, it didn't stop Colton Merton doing Colton Merton things. That was if you haven't seen him do do this workout, it is definitely well worth a watch. He makes the sandbags look effortless. Yeah, I agree, agreed.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

It was, you know, some of the stuff that he does is so impressive.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Yeah, absolutely. 12-minute time cap on that. That's something else I thought that the time caps were all like classic crossfit y time caps, that nothing really above the 60-minute. We did the long bit with the run, but then everything else was kind of quite concise. Then we move into event four, which was three, three, three, four, amrap. So you basically had rounds, three-minute round, three-minute round, three-minute round, four-minute rounds, AMRAP of 25 calories on the Echo ski. It's the first time I've seen that in competition, I think. For for the guys, 20 for the ladies, and then 25 GHDs, and then max toaster bar and then remaining time. And you the goal here was to get to 100 reps. So you kind of had the first three-minute AMRAP to accumulate as many toaster bars as you could, then the second, then the third, and then the fourth. So as fast as you got that done, then you were finished. So you were seeing some some really fast goals here as well. People getting to the 100, and um uh that really there was quite a lot of interference for event five, which we'll talk about in particular one, Lucy Campbell, and she she mentioned it on on broadcast after after all the events. We'll we'll touch on that in a second. But it was a one-minute rest in between sets, 16-minute time cap. I really like this one as well. This workout, I was a big fan of this. What were your thoughts, Sean?

SPEAKER_00 20:28

I think it was one that intrigued, I think it shows the capacity of how good athletes have got over the years in terms of this this midline strength. I mean, if you'd have put this in a workout 10 years ago, I mean, it just wouldn't have been people wouldn't have been doing it. Um I think it was one that athletes saw and wanted to kind of try to see where they they would get to. So I know, you know, and and I think a lot of athletes impressed themselves how how good they were at doing something like this with that kind of volume. Um, and as you say, it's it's one of these interesting workouts. So I, you know, again, I it's like getting rewarded for being able to finish finish quickly, which I think makes exciting competition. But then if athletes then they have to go and do another round, it's like, is that you know, you're kind of repunishing the worst, the worst people. So an exciting competition workout, um, but then an interesting discussion where once again on the the test.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Yeah, for sure. It is yeah, and I think that that maybe that's a bit of a theme from from mayhem that that if you didn't execute spot on, there was some dire consequences to to not doing so. If you kind of got slightly something slightly wrong, and I think that's cool as well. I mean, I personally kind of like that in some way. Maybe that's the sadistic coach in me where you know we've all kind of been there um watching other people sort of suffer during a workout. But I I do think that there isn't a there's a cool element to it, but I understand from if you were coaching athlete and that they missed the the AMRAP by like one toaster bar and then. To do a whole thing again or a couple of toaster bar, it is it's a significant investment in in fatigue.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

Yeah, and I I I also agree. I think it's really exciting watching like the ability to execute because that's really what it is. As you said, it's like the knowing your body so well that you know, how do you pace through nine cleaning jerks at the end, or how do you not go out so hot that you start to lose time that you buy in these AMRAPs? And I think it's a really exciting component of fitness. I think one of the biggest things this weekend was a lot about movement efficiency. The guys, you need to move very well through this to get a good score. We saw that on the same on the sandbag. I think I think movement efficiency was heavily tested this weekend. Movement efficiency and ability to execute would probably be like the kind of the summaries of what the top athletes needed in order to go through.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yeah, and and looking at well, it's interesting listening to Austin and and Rich on the broadcast because I feel like from two people in the CrossFit sphere, that's like two of their MOs as well. Like Austin obviously being well in entrenched in CrossFit and the methodology and level and the seminar stuff and virtuosity and all of that stuff being high on the agenda. I think it's probably quite a cool expression of of that. Certainly to like who can I think they said it on the broadcast as well, do the common uncommonly well. And it's stuff like that that I do miss a little bit in the CrossFit narrative. And I think that also pays into like for the OGs kind of feeling like this was really Heartland CrossFit comp.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Yeah, and I I think this is you know, jump in the gun, one of the reasons why Evicta did so well. And and interestingly, you know, I'm gonna put like a little uh theory in that's not been proved, but also that the two younger female athletes did so well because they've you know they've both grown up in the sport since very young ages, and a lot of the the older athletes didn't necessarily start that young in CrossFit because it's a new sport, so these things factor in, and so they just they they seem to be better at moving, they just adapt to things, and you see that with the hands, like people just walking over the obstacle now. Uh you know, because for the younger athletes, they've seen it since I think it's like 2016 regionals or something. So it's like been 10 years, which for some of them is like half their half their their life that they've had this watch this implement being used, and so just pick up things that are you know, you just get these kind of non non-tangibles that factor into your learning development when you're so young.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Yeah, absolutely. I think I think you bang on with that. Moving on to event five. So we've got two more events, event five and event six. Event five, and this is where we saw Lucy Campbell have a bit of a bit of a wobble, and I'll and I'll share why afterwards. But it was six rounds of two legless rope climbs, one legless, and then one legged legged for the women. So two two for the guys, and then the ladies got one legless one that they could use their legs, followed by a 20-foot hand slam walk over an obstacle, and then four front squats of 275 and 185. So, again, some some tasty, tasty barbell weights, and then a 25-foot handstand walk over the obstacle back to then start their next legless rope climbs. 14-minute time cap on this, which which I thought was going to be tighter than it was, but um pros just kind of doing pros things, and and yeah, after all of the midline in the previous workout with all of the toaster bar and all of the all of the hinging with the uh ski erg and the G HDs, Lucy shared in her interview after the competition that it really wrecked her for the rope climbs because she was saying her midline just was not was not allowing her to use her legs on the on the on the rope climbs. So uh so it seemed to to have a bit of an effect and and and cause some people maybe to be a bit slower on event five, but but uh interesting workout nonetheless.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

It was an interesting one because you know on paper you would think this is like a loosey, a bit of a loosey wheelhouse, although the the heavier weights on the squats she struggles with, she does seem to handle this, as was in like vent through the sandbag, handle those medium weights very well. She's obvious you know, obviously one of her most famous workouts is the hands down walk against Tier, where she managed to kind of like outfight tier for the the victory there, and then again Legless. So, like on paper you're expecting that, and and then seeing Stromin also failing on the the obstacle. I think she left herself probably a stressful break between event five and and event six. She she you know, she you all I think like in any competition at those when you're on the fringe of qualifying, not for qualifying, she got a bit lucky with like Claudio Gluck managing to come in and take take some excess points away. And but yes, it was it was interesting to to see because obviously some athletes weren't affected uh by that. I mean, some athletes just I mean the speed that you saw go through. So it's uh it's an interesting, I think an interesting thing uh for to look at to be like okay, why why was that impacting me so much?

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Definitely Paige Rogers, for instance, and well the top top two really sort of showed showed their class in this workout.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

It was uh impressive. Paige Rogers, uh wow, I mean it's just really like I mean, this show she put on this weekend, you're like you know, a games-winning contender. Very, I mean, just such an impressive performance. And Emma Lawson as well. I mean, those two just run away with the competition, and they were kind of fighting each other, look like a bit of a league of their own. Um, and I think you know, Emma's been around on everyone's radar for a long time. And I paige was obviously on some people's, but then but coming back since the baby, it seems to have I don't know if it's an age development or refocus, but she's yeah, she's really or showing her potential now. But yeah, she's really stepping into the the limelight as one of the potential winners of the games.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Yeah, it'd be interesting to watch, especially with you know, she's uh she's a mayhem been a mayhem athlete for a long time, and I felt we had a similar thing with Austin Hatfield where he did really well at the mayhem classic and then didn't maybe quite live up to it at the game. So it'd be interesting to see if she can translate that into games form. And it's we've got a long time until the games happen as well. So can she kind of keep you know, keep in competition shape but without revving too high or or or revving too low? I think that's the only downside of qualifying so early, perhaps, but you'll probably be able to tell me better than I know.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

I I would, you know, I think coach or any athlete would a hundred percent take this first weekend as a qualifying one. I I just think there's also the psychological thing and of seeing each semi-final come up and knowing that thank God I don't have to put myself to qualify now. And yeah, these guys would actually be able to take a proper D-Load. I mean, we're only April. I don't I need to double check, uh, but I actually think this is the earliest or longest period someone will have ever had between qualifying for the games and competing at the games.

SPEAKER_01 29:13

I need to get that verified, but so do you think that it's within reason to kind of like have a big D load now afterwards and then start to like properly ramp back up to competition shape for the games? Or like how would you be addressing someone who you know who's qualified now?

SPEAKER_00 29:28

I think there's a factor in the emotional stress as well. Like if you like, for example, for for Paige, you know, I don't know about her training or how she led up, but let's say it was a pretty easy, stressless weekend, which it kind of appeared to be, she's really executed. Then maybe you don't need as long a delo. Um but for example, if an athlete's gone in, they like push their limits all weekend, the stress levels were super high. That's when I think it's important to maybe take a bit more time away and a bit of a stress away. Like that the mental stress and mental component, I think it's not just the physical, and it's really important to give yourself time away from that.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:13

So this is one of the best. Sorry, on the same coming back, but on like the so that's one of the troubles in in European semifinals again. Like on a throwback show, but back in the day, Europe regionals, European regionals were just stacked and so hard to get, especially on the the female side. And I was like working with uh Sarah back then, and qualifying female Europe was almost like you qualified then, you were gonna do well at games because you knew that level was so high. Uh and so you had to prepare for it kind of like the games. It wasn't just you were gonna get it was your only way through. It wasn't like that, and I think that's maybe a slightly different thing. All of these athletes were like, well, if I don't qualify now, there's 10 other chances in an online thing at the end. So whereas if that was your only shot, um, I think that everyone would have prepared for it differently. The stress levels would have been higher, and therefore the D load would have needed to be longer. And so this was always the trouble we had. If if your semi-final or regional back in the day was the last one and it was your only opportunity, then um that is a very precious time after to have it longer. Whereas I would you know, reflecting on that point, I do think it's a lot less stressful just being like, Well, I can pick any semifinal I want and and go to that one. It it's like it takes away the stress.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

Definitely, and which is actually an argument for this format from the athlete's perspective, I think it's interesting because there's been some talk recently, just because other some athletes have been pulling out of other semifinals, and some of the stuff I heard online was that they understand why the format is the way it is, but also actually, if you're a fan and you want you were really looking forward to going to a semi-final to see your your an athlete compete and now they've decided that they're not going to go. Is it okay that we can just have athletes kind of pulling out of competitions last minute and all this kind of stuff? So there's been a bit of a debate online on which is the best format kind of resurfacing again recently, which is interesting.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

Yeah, and I also think an interesting thing is like we spoke about with the style of programming where you like you have to execute, it makes it more exciting. But European regionals were super exciting because you had to execute, and so that there's something to be said for this pressure that makes it really interesting and intriguing to watch because you know, as we mentioned with Sam Briggs, one mess up on one handstand walk, all of a sudden not the game. So there's like this when the you know punishments high, it makes it a lot more exciting to to watch.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Yeah, high stakes create create those environments and those moments, right? Whereas, yeah, that is probably the the downside of the current format is that there aren't really any super high stakes at the moment, so it's kind of entertaining, but you're like, Well, like you said, a lot of the athletes that didn't make it were like, right, okay, well, the now the question is where are they we're gonna see them next? Because they're gonna be like now looking to see what's their next best available option to go. So it's interesting. Speaking of events, the last one event six, 30 dumbbell bench. Now we're talking 200 double unders, a hundred-foot dumbbell farmers lunge with the dumbbells that you used for the bench. And there was a four-minute time cap on this, and Rich and Austin were getting very nervous because the first heats for this no one finished, and it was only sort of like the top five or six on both both sides of the house that it really sort of managed to get through this well. And this is where Lucy kind of came shot out of a cannon and mate, kind of punched her ticket to the games, which was super exciting to watch. And it was it was just a real bounce back after event event five.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Yeah, I think that in points wise, she had to beat Abigail, Abby, and uh Domit and and Gabby. They were like the ones who were just close behind her and they were chasing. Yeah, they were chasing her down. So it was a great execution, and I'm sure she uh she slept a lot happier on Sunday night, knowing that she had the ticket.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

I bet, I bet. And and but kind of back to the theme of of what we were saying about the competition. It was again really exciting. Watch like on the guy's side, Jeffrey Adler was kind of on the on the bubble of of making it and ended up winning the event on the guy side as well. Very similar thing to to Lucy, actually, similar execution, and he was kind of getting chased down by a couple of a couple of guys as well. So it was it was really exciting on both sides and a nice way to finish the event, I thought.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

Yeah, and I I think this comes down to you know, obviously, for for everyday person, these are super heavy weights and hard things to do, but at this level, really it was just movement efficiency and execution, like you know, who can get through those 30 dumbbells as quick as possible, who can keep the double unders as efficient as possible, and then it's just holding on to the end. I mean, sub four minutes, they most likely going to be feeling it after rather than during, especially with those changes of movement.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Yeah, absolutely. So to have a look at the leaderboards, just pulled those up. We'll we'll look at the guys first because we've been kind of talking about the women a bit more. But you already mentioned his name, Victor Hoffer. Do you came in first? He won one overall. Um, do you think this is a bit of a kind of because I know Victor's been around for for a little while now, but do you think this is a bit of a statement for him? This is his kind of like coming out part, if you like, for for his into more mainstream notoriety and possibly pushing for other podiums.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

I mean, I hope so. He's you know, it's important for Europe to have these young talents coming through. And he obviously like burst onto the scene. I believe he had like you know, at least semi-final wins. I think his year at the games, he then didn't compete because he was injured and stepped off. So he had like a quick rise to fame, and then it's been a bit of a gap, and hopefully it'd be like another rise back, like European, European males doing well against American fields is really important. And we Krenikov, you know, we used to call him European, but now we've lost him to the Americans. So he gets he gets crossed off our European list, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

But he came in second and he did really well. It was cool to see him there with his son on the podium and and you know, set settled into Cookville fully now. And yeah, that was cool to see. And uh and he had a great weekend, to be fair, especially on the ski hoag workout. I mean, he absolutely destroyed that workout, like came off the ski og well ahead of everyone else, and then just managed to hold onto the toaster bar.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

It was also a really close tie break because they they both they both had like a first, a second, and a third. But then on the last one, Victor finished third, so he had like two-thirds, which then so you went. I don't think I've seen the tie break at this level go all this way, you know, had to take so many workouts into factor as well. So it was a really close, a really close finish, and you know, by a by a matter of milliseconds, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

It was pretty good. Actually, on the same point, 525. So as John said, it's went all the way down to the wire. And there was also lots of delays to scoring updates because there seemed to be some contest um contested scores throughout the weekend, which I didn't really hear get to the root of what was happening there, but it does seem that that there was there was some stuff, so maybe post will we'll hear a bit about like people disputing scores or or something to that effect.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

Yeah, and I think you can see like if you look at Austin Hatfield, who missed his ticket, uh, you know, the one where it's like getting 13th in in event two, and basically that's because if you just go to next events, he'd taken a second, second, um, he did take an eighth, eighth, second, four, four. So, you know, would it have been possible without that eight? Let's take the eighth to a second. I don't think he'd have even made it then. So it's like just one event where he finished thirteenth out of twenty because of a failed, it's like a really punishing.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Yeah. It was really close between him and Jeffrey Adler if it wasn't for that 13th. Um, and and and Jeffrey squeezed into third position. Well, I say squeezed in, he was five points behind the other two. I think he was a bit frustrated with maybe his own execution on for the eighth, which kind of meant that he probably didn't win the event because I think he was, you know, there was there was an opportunity for him to to win.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

If it wasn't he fell off the speed a bit, actually, on that. He again maybe like you say, maybe Lucy's uh obviously didn't affect all athletes in the same way. Like Austin Hatfield came out super hot in that workout. Victor came out, obviously a great workout, Victor. But they didn't maybe for Jeffrey, she he felt the same thing as Lucy on that midline.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Yeah, quite possibly. And then Colton in fifth, Saxon Panchik in sixth. And then we get into some of the sort of newer athletes on on the scene or other athletes that have kind of been in and around sort of the game scene for a little while, but I feel like the for me it's the top top six are kind of like the really well-established names in the in the sport that most people will will be familiar with on the guy side.

SPEAKER_00 39:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

So if we go over to women, Paige Rogers, formerly Paige Powers, it wins the event. Uh, like like uh, like you mentioned, John, she just looks really consistent throughout the weekend. Apart the run, she came ninth, which uh there's some really strong runners on the female side, so top 10 solid there. But then a second, a second, a third, a first, a third. So super consistent, top three in every other workout, and takes the win by 30 points. Then Emma Lawson in second, who again looks really strong throughout the weekend. She had a third in the first event, then it was an eighth, fifth, sixth, second, second in in her events, and then Lucy Campbell coming in third with four four fifty and just holding off Abigail Domit, who got four twenty-five points, and Emily Rolf in three with three ninety-five.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

But I don't think it actually I don't think it reflects how close it was the looking at the leaderboard this way. Like the final workout was literally just like seconds dividing, but actually created a huge uh point gap in the end.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Yeah, well, I think going into the last event, Gabby was actually in fourth, and she ended up in seventh in the end because of that last workout. And I'll just re-lock some of the some of the names in the top 10, top 15 of the women. So Paige Rogers wins, Emma Lawson in second, Lucy Campbell in third, Abigail Madame in fourth, Emily Rolfe in fifth, Olivia Kirstead are in sixth, Gabby McGala in seventh, Claudia Gluck, sorry, in eighth, Lucy McGonagall, who's a new one to the scene in ninth, Rebecca Fuselay in 10th, Kara Milligan, who did she win quarterfinals in the M2? She came in 11th and Haley Allen in 12th. So I feel like on on the lady side, the top 10 was really some some strong, a strong level. But it was good to see Gabby back competing. I don't know. She looked good throughout the weekend, but I don't know if maybe that was just a sign of her having some time off, obviously, with two injuries back to back, kind of not being in regular competing season. Maybe that she just needs a bit longer before she's at her top level again.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Yeah, I mean, I I would think that she's happy, like just having done a semi-final. It's like kind of a step in the right direction, and you know, I think it'd be very unusual if she doesn't take one of the the tickets, considering how many are left.

SPEAKER_01 41:43

Yeah. Yeah, it'd be good to see her at the games again. And I know for her, like you say, I'm sure she's just thrilled to be back competing again after having such a long layoff.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Yeah, I think the females, the female games this year is going to be more exciting than the guys. Like it's you know, you take because they take Tyr out, you take Laura out, yeah. And you just end up with this really hard to predict.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Yeah, absolutely. And there's just so many women who have when those when Tyr and Laura haven't been competing that are all sort of duking it out, and you kind of never know who's going to be on top. It is it is really exciting, really interesting. And yeah, I I you know enjoyed watching the guys this weekend, but the women's competition just felt like it was like where the drama was this weekend. Speaking of other semi-finals, we've got another one next weekend, which is the Legends Championship in Del Mar, California. We get two men and two women qualify out of uh of this competition, and then we also get a load of masters. So we're gonna get three men, three women from the 35 to 39, and 40 to 44, and then two men, two women from the 45 to 49, and 50 to 54, and then one man, one woman from the 55 plus division. So we're gonna get two indies and then a load of masters as well. So if you're interested in in those divisions, definitely the week weekend for you. I think I heard someone pulled out of this last minute. I think it was was it Justin Medeiros or someone decided that they weren't going to compete.

SPEAKER_00 43:11

So I'm not quite sure in the confirmed field for this, but the only thing unfortunately I saw about Ledger, well, one of the things was the they're really struggling to get sign-ups for this backfill. And it's like a really you know, they had four, I think in total, like four hundred athlete spots, and they'd only filled 100, which is super sad to see. Like it's Del Mar, one of the old school hubs of CrossFit, like it was booming.

SPEAKER_01 43:37

Yeah, that California regional back in the day was uh was yeah, iconic. And you would kind of think it's like hard to get a it hard to be able to go compete there, but um Do you think anyone from this weekend will just I mean I I can't imagine it, but do you think anyone from this weekend will be like screw it, I'm gonna go put my hat in the ring?

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Maybe if they see, I don't know if the workouts have been released, but maybe it's not that far away, you know. So if like you're you're in California, you know that you're you're close, maybe it's worth the worth a shot.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

Um and then the following weekend, we've got three more. So Copasur in John's favorite Brazil, always repping the outside of Europe, John, John regularly rep in the South American audience. We get two two men, two women and one team from there. Then we've got the Far East Throwdown, which is over in Korea, South Korea, in Busan, and we get one man, one woman, one team, and then Magic City Games, which is going to be in Birmingham, Alabama, which is all masters. Three men, three women, two men, two women, and one man, one woman from the 39 to 39, 40 to 44, 45 to 49, 50 to 54, and 55 plus divisions.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

And it's also the WFP first tour stop that weekend.

SPEAKER_01 44:59

Yeah. So split split watching, to be honest. Although I kind of feel that to be honest, most of these, unless you're really invested in a friend or an athlete from that region, you're probably going to be watching WFP that weekend.

SPEAKER_00 45:14

Yeah, the Cupasaur, I think, will have its classic Latin following, which is pretty huge. I don't I don't know if Gee's competing, what it's able to compete there, but uh yeah, then WFP that weekend, it'll be it'll be interesting to see who goes. Like obviously the level's a lot lower than than last year. Um, but yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

Definitely. And then I probably the next big one for us that we'll be focusing on talking about is the French throwdown, which is the 15th to 17th of May in Paris, France. Three men, three women, three teams, and then a boatload of masters going from that. So a big one. There's gonna be quite a lot to watch that at that comp.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. And French is always a big competition in Europe.

SPEAKER_01 46:01

Yeah, always exciting. Any other thoughts coming out of this weekend going into the next few weeks of set semi-final action, John?

SPEAKER_00 46:10

I think it was a good one to get started. Like, I think in general, just super positive feedback to have the season going. It's going to be interesting to see how the how things follow up. But I think if they could all do as good a job as that, it'll be you know a good semifinal season.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Yeah, absolutely. And one last thing just to get your thoughts on from me this week was some of the stuff that's been coming out about Xenom. So I've been seeing that CrossFit, I got an email from CrossFit today, kind of bigging up Xenom and promoting it. And that comes off the back of the news that Xenom's gonna offer a 20% discount for members of CrossFit affiliates. So there seems to be a real affiliation and connection between Xenom and CrossFit as a as a as an outfit. What do what do you make of this news and and and just some of the noises that are coming out of the Xenom at the moment?

SPEAKER_00 47:10

Um it's a good question. I I think it's really good that like CrossFit's are kind of open to this partnership. Um you know it probably means the sensible thing, like if they're you you should as a CrossFit get a discount for Znum if they're so closely associated. So I think like the whole direction of this is really good and really positive. And it honestly is what should be happening, like CrossFit partnering up with people and and doing these competitions. I'm just really interested to see, as we mentioned a couple of times, like is this the is this the format? You know, kind of the the contra argument to some of the thoughts we've had is like, well, you know, when Iron Man first came out, everyone was like, Whoa, that's way too much and that's crazy, and it's like obviously exploded. So it's kind of hoping I'm it's a weird one, I like hoping I'm wrong in this scenario because I I think there'd be if this takes off, it'd be really positive for the space because of the affiliation with CrossFit, like CrossFit affiliated with this, Rogue of affiliated with this, you know. So you just by proxy, you've already got like big buy-in from a lot of the community. Um, and I'm interested to see like first event June, second event August. Can they get the you know, like 2000, 2000 people to to go to these these events? Yeah, what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 48:34

Well, yeah, I kind of kind of the same to be honest, bud. Like I it's uh I've seen, you know, we've we've mentioned that the pricing is is really premium for for this level of competition, um, and which is going to be interesting to see how that plays out in the community. I know we we've seen we've obviously talked about how we feel that live competition, things like high rocks are on the rise. And obviously, we had Mark on the other week talking to us from from an ethics perspective, which was you know, again, super cool to talk to him and get his perspective and really interesting in hearing what they're doing. So it feels like there's this is the best time to be if you are trying to launch competition, but at the same time, there are um some real unknowns in this. We've got a set format of CrossFit for once, uh that actually partnering CrossFit, which does doesn't happen all that often. So there's some really interesting dynamics to this, which I I don't really I can't say I have an opinion either way at the moment. I'm just really intrigued to see, like you said, does it take off? Did people really enjoy the format? You know, is pricing the at the right level? And how do they do? Because they could potentially have a really big effect on on the competitive landscape of not just functional fitness, but maybe even CrossFit themselves.

SPEAKER_00 49:42

Yeah, I still can't help but think like how how popular would it be if CrossFit came out and did this like 90-minute event, you know, just getting the community together, doing something that's achievable by all. There's something still so strong about the CrossFit brand, and we I think we've noticed this in media over the years that when when CrossFit did media and it was like the central hub, it was really easy to follow what was going on, etc. etc. And then during the time you know, when CrossFit deleted its Instagram, and then all of a sudden, like you had to follow these different accounts to kind of find out what's happening. That's where like morning chalk up blew up and all these other things, and it just really would help if it came from the the central hub of CrossFit. And I, you know, like the Ethics thing, I think, is a really good concept, and like actually founded on CrossFit. Why would they not partner with Ethics or partner with whoever it may be in order, you know, and as we heard from Mark, they're like super into CrossFit and on it. The Hyrux guys were super into CrossFit. Like, if you listen to their first interviews as well, and there was a time when probably that could have happened. That you know, obviously the the like levels of of the dynamic have completely shifted, but back in the day, I'm pretty sure there was a big opportunity to be able to do something together.

SPEAKER_01 51:12

Yeah, I mean it'd be interesting to see. I mean, maybe there is still still is it's one thing that like we can always predict that things are going to change and evolve and new things will change.

SPEAKER_00 51:21

Do you think they could could you see like a CrossFit High ROCS collab? I suppose it would just be I suppose the we I suppose the perspective is from CrossFit's perspective, they kind of had the you know a bit more of the upper hand in the negotiations at the start the before HyROX became so popular, whereas now it's the other way around. And now it seems that and what's the benefit now for HIROCs to to partner? Like they're just doing so well, like so many participants. They're I think they've got more affiliates than CrossFit now. They're looking to end, they've got like an official sport, they're looking to enter the Olympics. I mean, yeah, they've just got so much momentum in doing things so right. It's like I imagine quite a complex and possibly messy partnership now. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 52:07

Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's it fun the fitness space of sport, individu these sports, these kind of fitness racing or or or functional fitness events, however we label them, because they're owned by companies and brands. It is kind of weird, but the model I was thinking of is like take something like the X Games, which took all of these fringe kind of like it in extreme sports in air quotes, but basically took all the things that I was into as a kid, like skateboarding, like inline skating, BMXing, all this kind of stuff, snowboarding, everything, and just chucked it into one event and kind of launched it. And it was really cool because it was like didn't really matter which area you're in. You kind of and then you ended up watching all of it, and then you end up getting into all of it. I think I probably was into skateboarding first, and then because of that, I was like, right, well, I love um Matt Hoffman and I love Dave Mirror, right? I'm getting a BMX, and I got into that, and then like the next thing and the next thing. And I kind of almost feel like a bit of the same with with fitness as a sport, it would be cool if we had one kind of thing, and you see it a bit with Rogue where it's like, oh, you like lifting stuff, but you're a CrossFitter. Here's some strong man, strong woman. Oh, you're into lifting stuff, strong man, strong woman. Here's some crossfit, and there's some cross-pollination. And I feel like where we've had events, certainly in the UK, I've been to like competitions where you've had stuff at Fitfest, which has had a CrossFit comp, but then it's also had body all these different events: bodybuilding, strongman, strong woman, you know, uh parkour, all this kind of stuff. Like we've got this sandbox of all this human movement. Why isn't we're not like actually trying to help each other kind of grow within the larger sandbox? It all feels like we're not rivals, but sort of semi-competing a little bit against one another.

SPEAKER_00 53:46

It's a as a similar conversation with uh head coach Chris. We did like a race uh last week or a couple of weeks ago, and it's basically one of these fake high rocks is, you know. I mean, we can describe it however we want. In essence, it's a fake high rocks. You've got stations and running in more or less like an hour time to me. And uh, one of the thoughts that I had was I wonder if it becomes a bit like the UFC, where HIROCs is the UFC as this like the ultimate league where every racer wants to get to. Then actually, what they managed to do is incorporate all of these similar races as like uh I don't know, getting points or whatever it may be, because the one thing that is just I just find it crazy. I don't know if it's just because of Spain or even just Mallorca, but the amount of these fake Hyroxes that are not only like there's so many of them, but they're also full since you're combining like running and some kind of station, and someone makes a slight variation. Oh, you can have an option without running, whatever it may be. But this is maybe an interesting what Hyrux does with these associated events. Like, do they partner in some way? Is there like can you become like you know, like this, like kind of a some kind of segue? Is it like a risky because it dilutes the brand? You know, it's like an interest, and but there are of the fake HIROXs. I mean, there's probably like 10x. If 1.5 million people are doing an official HIROX this year, it's gotta be well over 10 million. Yeah, and I would I would even say more and more with uh all these ones going on that competing in some form of fitness event now.

SPEAKER_01 55:35

Do you think? Wow, it just reminds me a bit of Apple with AirPods, and everyone's kind of making their own version of AirPods. That's what it reminded me of just when you were talking then. Like everyone doing their fake version of AirPods. It's like the same with high-rops and uh and their kind of fitness racing.

SPEAKER_00 55:51

Yeah, I was thinking about that the other day. It's interesting that like when I was when we were a bit younger, like counterfeit was like a big thing, you know, like go buy counterfeit DVDs or counterfeit Nikes or whatever it may be. But it seems like that world has like they've managed to control that world a lot more. You don't see the same uh same level, or at least I'm not necessarily exposed to it in the in the same way.

SPEAKER_01 56:14

So I think there's more of a status to having the real thing now, so people people tend to just find and it's probably become a bit more accessible as well to get airpods as in the higher stretch, but I know what you mean. I know what you mean. Anyway, John, is there anything else you want to discuss before we wrap up? No, we've we've deviated far enough. Yeah, yeah, we just went down a couple of little rabbit holes to finish there. But everyone, thank you very much for listening. I hope you enjoyed our little uh review of the mayhem classic and semi-final final season has kicked off, so it's going to be a very interesting couple of months now as we lead up to up to the games. So we'll be doing these weekly uh weekly catch-ups. I'm no doubt we'll be reviewing more. And as ever, if you want to get involved, come and join us on the live stream at 6 p.m. UK time, 7 p.m. Spanish time, and you can join us live. Come add some questions and comments, and of course, there's a link in the description so you can email us as well if you've got any questions, comments, or anything you want to know from the program side of things, please, please get in touch. John, anything else before we finish? Wrap up.

SPEAKER_00 57:15

I will see you. Well, actually, anyone who's at Coaches Congress in Madrid this weekend, come say hello.

SPEAKER_01 57:22

Yes, absolutely. I won't be there, but John will be. And uh, yeah, come say hi. Anyway, thank you so much, everyone. Thank you, John, as ever. Have a great week, everyone. We'll catch you on the next one.